Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 4,945 Shares of Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Matson, Inc. (NYSE:MATX) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 180,956 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,945 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.54% of Matson worth $24,400,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Matson by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 286,968 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $40,927,000 after acquiring an additional 26,366 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Matson by 43.5% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 14,382 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,051,000 after purchasing an additional 4,361 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Matson by 142.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 10,346 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,476,000 after purchasing an additional 6,080 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments increased its stake in shares of Matson by 78.0% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 10,425 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,487,000 after purchasing an additional 4,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in shares of Matson by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 10,079 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,437,000 after purchasing an additional 703 shares in the last quarter. 84.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MATX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Matson in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wolfe Research lowered Matson from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Matson Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Matson stock opened at $142.99 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.90 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The company has a fifty day moving average of $139.50 and a 200 day moving average of $140.91. Matson, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.50 and a fifty-two week high of $169.12.

Matson Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 6th will be issued a $0.34 dividend. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 6th. Matson’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.31%.

Matson Profile

Matson, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of ocean transportation and logistics services. It operates through two segments, Ocean Transportation and Logistics. The Ocean Transportation segment offers ocean freight transportation services to the domestic non-contiguous economies of Hawaii, Japan, Alaska, and Guam, as well as to other island economies in Micronesia.